8:30 - 11:30 a.m. Board Roles and Goals (Elmhurst 3 & 4 Room)presented by Bob Harris, CAE, The NonProfit CenterThis special session ONLY for board members of local chambers will include leadership, orientation, the board-staff team, governance models, board responsibilities, micromanagement, accountability and the common sense (meetings, minutes, agendas) and goal setting. There is a $99 fee for this session every 5 board members who attend. The chamber executive may join his/her board with their paid conference registration.

​Chambers, maybe more than any other type of nonprofit organization, are addicted to events. Lunch & Learns, Business After Hours, Award Breakfasts, Annual Gala...the list goes on and on. They require an immense amount of time and resources and very often have questionable strategic purpose. This session covers the actions necessary to make your chamber's events deliver the strategic results the board of directors expects and the members deserve.

​In 2011, Illinois launched the Illinois Pathways initiative, which was designed around strategies that align State resources and support regions to create career pathway systems that reflect the labor market needs of their communities. Learn how the Aurora Regional Chamber and Peoria Area Chamber have implemented this effective program in their communities.

8:30 - 9:30 a.m.​ Chamber Excellencepresented by Bob Harris, CAE, The NonProfit Center​ When the board asks, "Are We the Best," how do you answer their questions? Standards of organizational and personal excellence, benchmarks, assessment processes and smart practices will be discussed.

9:30 - 10:00 a.m.​ CORE - Creating Opportunities for Retention & Expansion Presented by Edward Sitar, Manager, Economic and Business Development, ComEd Learn about this Illinois program, now entering its second year, is doing to create a unified, coordinated statewide process to address the growth and development needs of existing businesses in Illinois.

​To ask or not to ask – that is the question. When negotiating an executive contract, what are the items that are standard? What should you ask for and what should you stay away from? This session will allow for an engaged discussion of the challenges faced in crafting an executive agreement.

​What do a Chamber director, a business leader from the NavySEAL/SWCC community, and a Marine veteran entrepreneur have in common? A relationship based on collaboration, mutual support, and welcome opportunities to learn and benefit from each other. They will discuss how Chambers can engage and serve a new and growing group of potential members seeking to launch businesses – and how the mindset and skills of elite military veterans can both inspire success and help Chambers thrive in today’s business climate.

Email marketing is the most powerful form of marketing you can use to engage with your current and prospective members. It's also ever-changing, evolving and quite frankly...hard to keep up with. Join Constant Contact's email marketing expert to learn the best practices, techniques, and strategies that will and expand your reach within your community. In this session we will discuss:

Techniques that are out of practice and should be avoided.

Best practices and industry trends that are crucial in getting your emails opened NOW

12:00​ p.m. Keynote - Being a Leader with Courage presented by Lee Eisenstaedt Did you know that 40%-50% of leaders fail, quit or are pushed out within 18 months of starting their jobs? It’s been happening for the past 20 years and Lee Eisenstaedt, author of the Amazon best-seller of Being A Leader With Courage and co-founder of the Leading With Courage Academy, will be sharing with us the nine behaviors he identified while researching his book that effective leaders with courage adopt to be successful in their roles. These behaviors apply to anyone managing people or projects and are relevant to anyone who wants to make a bigger impact, sooner and is interested in building deeper relationships with people within and outside their organization. You will leave this interactive session with tools and insights you can apply immediately back at the office. (All attendees will receive a complimentary copy of Lee's book.)

The U.S. Talent Pipeline has remained largely unchanged since World War II. While the American education and workforce systems are making progress, there are still too many places where government does not react as quickly or be as helpful as most businesses would like. Businesses that work together to engage with government elevate from stakeholders to stockholders and in the process wield greater influence over government policy and services. This interactive session touches on the underlying theory of sector-based employer collaboratives and then explores proven strategies for like-minded businesses in the same region to organize themselves for making the leap from stakeholder to stockholder, from customer to partner.

​Bob will share his proven approach to stragic planning, and it doesn’t include hokey games and group hugs. Attendees will learn how to approach planning from a mission-focused and very strategic position, common pitfalls to avoid, and how to ensure your plan remains a living document rather than living in a binder collecting dust.

​Cybersecurity is the most significant technology issue facing Chambers of Commerce and their members today! To protect your communities, Chambers need to lead the way in establishing a risk-based culture. Join us to hear actual cases about ways businesses are being threatened with fraudulent instruction, ransomware, and more, and learn how to apply those lessons to your own cybersecurity.

​We all have those business leaders or companies that send their check in annually but rarely utilize the chamber in any other way. These are the members that are most concerning and can impact retention and value. In this session we will talk about strategies and tools to impact the passive and disengaged member.

Does every one of your chamber events begin with a budget? If not, it should. Used correctly, the budget creates not just a financial road map - it sets expectations, communicates risk and serves as an objective tool to bring staff and volunteers together. This session covers:

​Effective strategies for interacting with elected officials vary depending on your proximity to them, their accessibility, and the specific needs of your business community. Learn techniques to ensure your interactions are meaningful.

​Discover strategies and tips for educating potential members on the value of their chamber investment. Helping members to see that your value is not just offering events and ribbon cuttings. We also discuss tips for sharing why it’s important to invest even if the potential member has limited time to be involved. How do we change these perceptions? Help prospects, members, and your business community understand their chamber is more than events and ribbon cuttings.

​How do you directly address the needs of your key constituents in supporting the attraction and retainment of top talent within your community? How do you effectively work with local schools to influence the development of both in-demand technical and essential career-readiness skills? Join our recap of the Greater Oak Brook’s STEM Bridge Partnership Program, providing inspirational hands-on, work simulations to high school students, led by relatable “near peer” young business leaders.

​Maybe your chamber is the primary economic development organization in your community, or maybe it isn’t, but either way it is important for you to understand how a site selectors evaluate your area for new jobs and new investment and what the chamber can do to strengthen you competitiveness.In this session, you will hear what site selectors are looking for, how to gather the appropriate data including community information and resources to leverage like demographics, economic trends, what financial options to consider, and how chamber executives can play a critical role in bringing new businesses to their communities.

​Attendees will learn steps to create a sustainable foundation for aggressively signing new sponsors. We’ll talk about clarifying your sponsorships and connecting to strategic member segments, and tips in preparing to make new sponsor calls. Including an overview on implementation and utilizing the steps of the sponsorship sales process, a process with proven steps that will successfully increase your ability to sign more sponsors.

​Join Valerie in a conversation discussing diversity & inclusion strategies to assist in the recruitment, retention and attraction of talent with an emphasis on multi-cultural talent. We will explore programs that are successful and work together to find solutions that can work in your communities.

​People are not interested in the technology that will assist their business, they simply want the chamber to help their business prosper. The chamber is known for managing local and regional information by offering a location where people can visit, ask questions, and gather handout materials. However, with today's ever-changing communication demands Chambers of Commerce need to expand their lobbies into the digital realm.

9:30 - 9:45 a.m. Break

9:45 - 10:00 a.m. Resources for Chamber Executives

10:00 - 11:00 a.m.Closing Keynote - The 9th Influence - Limitations of Government presented by Mick Fleming, Former President & CEO, ACCEOooh! That title sounds like a direct-to-video apocalyptic movie or perhaps a manager’s strategy for the final inning of a baseball game. But what is the Ninth Influence? In short, it’s our response to the question almost always heard after a presentation on the Eight Influences identified in our groundbreaking report titled Horizon Initiative: Chambers 2025.​ To paraphrase and amalgamate the many similar questions: “What about the influence of government inadequacy?” Even when we’re presenting to chambers that have very little involvement in public affairs or government relations, some iteration of this question invariably arises.